Integrated sofa-bed and television unit

ABSTRACT

A RETRACTABLE TELEVISION SET IS MOUNTED IN A DRAWER WHICH SLIDES IN AND OUT OF A CABINET WHICH IS ATTACHED TO ONE END OF A SOFA-BED. THE DRAWER CAN BE PULLED OUT TOWARDS THE FRONT OF THE SOFA, THE SAME DIRECTION IN WHICH THE BED OPENS OUT. THE TELEVISION SET IS SWIVEL-MOUNTED SO AS TO BE VIEWABLE BY EITHER A PERSON SITTING ON THE SOFA, OR BY A PERSON LYING ON THE BED.

Sept. 28, 1971 CASTRO ETAL INTEGRATED SOFA-BED AND TELEVISION UNIT 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan, 16, 1969 INVENTORS. fii z/vmw (461-190 #N J.545/! BYJOSEP/l A. $005, M1 4%,;

8/46 RING/J7 ATTORN United States Patent 3 608 101 INTEGRATED SOFA-BEDAND TELEVISION UNIT Bernard Castro, Lloyds Harbor, John J. Barabas, New

Rochelle, and Joseph A. Brindisi, Uniondale, N.Y.,'

assignors to Castro Convertibles Corporation, New Hyde Park, N.Y.

Filed Jan. 16, 1969, Ser. No. 791,700 Int. Cl. A47c 13/38, 17/08 US. Cl.-2 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A retractable television set ismounted in a drawer which slides in and out of a cabinet which isattached to one end of a sofa-bed. The drawer can be pulled out towardsthe front of the sofa, the same direction in which the bed opens out.The television set is swivel-mounted so as to be viewable by either .aperson sitting on the sofa,

, or by a person lying on the bed.

This invention relates to convertible furniture, and particularly toconvertible sofa-beds.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an article ofconvertible furniture which is extremely compact and provides thefunctions of several different pieces of furniture. Convertiblesofa-beds with phonographs and barsin cabinets at its ends have beenused to save floor space with some success in the past. However,considerable room space in the home still is occupied by the usualtelevision set. Accordingly, it is a more specific object of the presentinvention to provide a furniture unit which provides the functions of asofa, a bed, an endtable and a television set, and which provideseasier, more comforatable television viewing facilities which arecompact and save valuable space in the home.

The foregoing objects have been satisfied in accordance with the presentinvention by the provision of a convertible sofa-bed with a cabinet atone end and a television set retractably mounted in the cabinet. Thetelevision set is rotatably mounted in its upright position so that itcan be turned around for viewing by a person sitting on the sofa orlying in the bed. The television set is mounted in a drawer which pullsout from the front of the sofa so that it can be viewed from thesofa-bed without requiring the viewer to sit in an uncomfortableposition or crane his neck to see it.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent fromthe following description and drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a furniture unit constructed inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the unit of FIG. 1, withthe television set upright;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is another perspective view of the unit shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a convertible sofa bed is shownwith the bed 12 folded out into a sleeping position. A televisioncabinet 14 is attached to one end of the sofa, and a high-fidelityphonograph cabinet 16 is attached to the other end of the sofa. Thecabinet 14 has a drawer 18 in which a television set 20 is mounted. Thetelevision set 20 has a handle 22 on the top (see FIGS. 2 through 4).When the television set is not in use it rests on its back in the drawer18 as shown in FIG. 1. When it is desired to be used, the drawer ispulled out, the user grasps the handle 22, lifts the tele- 3,608,101Patented Sept. 28, 1971 vision set up into an upright position as shownin FIG. 2, into which it is automatically locked by the mountingmechanism shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The drawer l8 pulls out from the frontof the sofa and the television set 20 is swivel-mounted so that it canbe turned around towards the open bed and can be viewed by the personlying in the bed, or can be viewed comfortably by a person sitting onthe sofa, as is illustrated in FIG. 5.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the mechanism for mounting thetelevision set 20 in the drawer 18 includes two linkages such as the oneshown in FIGS. 3 and 4, one such linkage being attached to the insidewall on the left side of the drawer, and the other on the inside wall onthe right side of the drawer 18. One mechanism is the mirror image ofthe other.

FIG. 3 shows the television set 20 in its lowermost position, and FIG. 4shows the television set 20 in its uppermost position. Each linkageincludes a mounting bracket 24 which is secured to one side-wall of thedrawer by means of threaded fasteners or screws 26 and 28. Thetelevision set 20 is bolted securely onto a support member 30 which isrotatably mounted on a platform 32 by means of a piovt pin 34. Theplatform 32 is secured to an angle-iron support member 36. Supportmember 36 is generally L-shaped, and its left-end portion 38 ispivotably mounted on the mounting bracket 24 at 40. The other end of thebracket 36 is pivotably connected at 42 to a toggle linkage comprisinglinks 44 and 46. The left end of of link 44 is pivoted at 42 to thebracket 36, and link 46 is pivotably connected at 48 to link 44, and at50 to the mounting bracket 24. A spring 52 is connected at the right endof 54 of link 44 and is connected at 56 to the back wall 58 of thedrawer 18.

Referring again to FIG. 3, in which the television set is in itslowermost position, its rear upper portion 59 rests on a pad 62 of foamrubber or the like on the bottom of the drawer 18. When the handle 22 isgrasped and the television set is pulled upwardly, the television setswings upwardly about pivot point 40, and the toggle links 44 and 46swing upwardly to approximate alignment with one another. When theyreach alignment with one another, the spring 52 pulls to the right onthe toggle linkage, thus throwing the linkage past center and lockingthe television set in the upright position. A stop pin 60 is mounted onthe mounting bracket 64 in a position such that it blocks the movementof link 46 past a certain position so that the toggle linkage will notcollapse.

As is shown in FIG. 2 as well as FIGS. 3 and 4, a cable 64 is providedfor releasing the toggle linkage so as to enable the user to lower thetelevision set back into the drawer. One end of the cable 64 is securedat point 66 to the link 44 on one of the side linkages, and the otherend of the cable 64 is secured to a corresponding point 66 on the otherside linkage. The cable passes through eyebolts 68 which extenddownwardly from the underside of brackets 36. (Eyebolts 68 actually areused as two of the four bolts used to bolt the platform 32; ontobrackets 36.) Thus, as is shown in FIG. 2, the cable 64 extends acrossthe drawer in a position just underneath the television set when it isin its upright position. The user simply grasps the cable 64 and pullson it, and this releases both toggle linkages in both of the mechanismsso as to enable the user, while grasping the handle 22, to gently lowerthe television set into its reclining position.

The cabinets 14 and 16 advantageously can be used as end tables. This isillustrated by the presence of a lamp 15 on top of the cabinet 14 inFIG. 1. The unit shown in the drawings thus provides the functions of asofa, a bed, a phonograph, end tables and a television set. What ismore, there is a unique combination of sofa, bed and television set bymeans of which the television set can be viewed in comfort from the sofaor bed. The television 3 set drawer pulls out to a position in front ofthe sofa-bed in which it easily can be seen without the viewer having tostrain or crane his neck.

The above description of the invention is intended to be illustrativeand not limiting. Various changes or modifications in the embodimentsdescribed may occur to those skilled in the art and these can be madewithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as set forthin the claims.

We claim:

1. A convertible sofa-bed, a cabinet secured to one end of saidsofa-bed, a drawer mounted in said cabinet to slide out of and into thefront of said cabinet, a television set retractably mounted in saiddrawer, means for moving said television set from its retracted positionto an upright viewable position, and swivel means for rotatablysupporting said television set in said upright viewable position.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 in which said sofa-bed opens frontally, withthe longest dimension of the bed extending in the same direction as thedirection in which said drawer pulls out.

3. A convertible sofa-bed, a cabinet secured to one end of saidsofa-bed, a drawer mounted in said cabinet to slide out of and into thefront of said cabinet, 2. television set retractably mounted in saiddrawer, means for propping said television set in an upright position,and swivel means for rotatably supporting said television set in saidupright position, said television set being pivotably mounted in saiddrawer, and said propping means including a toggle 4 linkage with a stopto hold said linkage in a propping position.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 including a spring attached to a link in saidtoggle to hold it in said propping position, and means for switchingsaid toggle to its nonpropping position for lowering said television setinto said drawer.

5. Apparatus as in claim 1 in which said cabinet has a closed top tomake it useable as an end-table for said sofa-bed.

6. Apparatus as in claim 1 including a record player in a cabinetsecured to the other end of the sofa-bed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,251,544 8/ 1941 Jiranek297-217X 2,284,531 5/1942 Miller et a1. 3124-310 2,769,676 11/1956Larsen et a1. 312306- 2,991,030 7/1961 Herbolsheimer 312306X 3,301,9521/1967 Reznik 3127 FOREIGN PATENTS 971,432 9/1964 Great Britain 5-2606,363 7/1960 Italy 52 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.297 217; 312237

